That's quite presumptuous of you Keeper.

[She smirks] Are you saying that there is a predictability to our unpredictableness?

[She laughs] Well I cannot blame you, and looking back I honestly can't believe I never noticed when things would all of the sudden get so complicated.

How odd, I never considered Humans to be all that more complicated than any other species. The social dynamics of Salian society, as sparse as it is, could be its own field of research.

So are the Thulu.

But is chaos the same as complicated? In reality chaos is quite a simple concept. It's the opposite of order, making the fact that they are unpredictable predictable, no?

Yes it is, but we are talking of humans are we not?

More than something Keeper. There were two emotions that I felt for the first time in a long while that day. The first was, as you know, Love.

Fear.

---

We didn't say anything at that moment, partially because I assumed we wanted to enjoy the silence, and partly that the situation we were in would be... ill fitting for any further displays of affection. Zeisha already had a coy look in her eye from when she saw the two of us in the stands. I suspected that the Fenician already picked up on our attraction long ago, but the sight of us holding hands was enough of a sign for her to either see that we had finally realized our feelings, or had just begun to take the first few steps towards doing so. She might not have not had a mate like many others her age, but that did not mean she was adverse to romance. If anything, she seemed more attuned to any amorous expression than most, though that could have just stemmed from her own observant nature.

At some point Igel managed to get the colosseum control room operational, and the lights of the colosseum slowly began to activate. The lights themselves were situated around the small clear dome above, angled in such a way that the arena in the center was completely illuminated, but the stands themselves were still shaded. It wasn't anything sufficiently advanced or unique, but the fact that the facility itself held power was impressive. We had no idea where the power was coming from, but it was a start.

Any time we had to celebrate such progress, however, was short lived. Shortly after the lights came on, a small beep emanated from mine and David's helmets. Igel's sensors had been triggered. If I had been of a more appropriate mindset at the time, I would have noticed that I did not have any response from my own Feelers. At that time, I only noticed that David let go of my hand and activated his coms.

"Igel one of your sensors went off, did your drones pick anything up?" He asked, his voice all business.

It was unprofessional, but I couldn't help but feel somewhat sad when he let go. David seemed to notice this and brushed his hand against my cheek, giving me a small smile as he did so. I returned a smile of my own, then hardened my features. Internally, I couldn't help but feel somewhat frustrated with myself. I may have been inexperienced with love at that time, but that didn't mean that I had to melt in David's hands... not at that moment at least.

"One picked up something just outside the building, but visuals are negative, maybe the power surge set off one of the sensors," The Vatyl's voice chimed in over the coms.

"Better to not take any chances. Stay there, we're coming to you." David said, nodding towards me.

I jumped down from the stands, softening my fall with a cushion of psychic force. Judging from the way that Zeisha's feathers were bristled, she already knew what the plan was.

"It's always something," She muttered

I couldn't help but smile at that, "It's better we be cautious for now."

"Oh don't give me that, I know you're frustrated too."

"A little," I admitted, "But safety now will make it that much sweeter in the future."

She snorted, but raised her hands in surrender, "Fine, fine. Come on everyone, time to let the two lovebirds do their thing."

I frowned at her, to which she could only smirk in response.

Gathering everyone in the control room was fairly simple since it was only a short distance away from the colosseum. Everyone was itching to get back to studying the building, but agreed to let David and I do another sweep of the building to ensure no wildlife, or in the worst case some competitor, followed us, though the odds of someone following us through space for two weeks without going unnoticed would be very slim. On the other hand, the threat would at least be somewhat predictable as opposed to dealing with the local wildlife, which could either be entirely harmless or the exact opposite.

Before we set out to scan the building, Igel had linked our video feeds to one another. It was jarring at first to have a screen of what someone else was seeing at the corner of your vision, but the utility of it was undeniable. Should the need ever arise, then David and I could split up and still keep an eye on one another. Of course, we had decided to stay together during our sweep of the building anyway, but in the unfortunate case that we were separated we would a least be able to maintain some sort of bearing. Igel and Ziesha had been linked into the video feed as well, though that was only because Zeisha insisted on getting as much view of ruins as possible.

Going through the Colosseum with just the two of us only emphasized how empty the place felt before. Zeisha and Igel may have been connected to us over the coms, but the lack of their physical presence made us feel all the more isolated. We only heard the sound of our footsteps for the most part, but, whether due to the design of the building or the materials used, there was no echo from them. David and I didn't speak to each other, we didn't need to. We quickly adapted to one another's behavior during the half year that we worked together, and by the time Zeisha approached us with the job offer we had become quite the efficient duo. Any lingering thoughts from our interaction early had faded at that point, but I did notice that David stood a little closer to me. Whether or not this was a subconscious compulsion of his, I did not know, but I would be lying if I said it didn't comfort me.

Beyond that, David was as he always was during a mission; observant, alert, and above all, cautious. Many, including me, would call his methods overly paranoid, but one does not survive in the Poros systems alone for 5 years without being a little cautious, and when the time for speed was needed, David had never proven himself inadequate in that regard. Still, given that we were scanning over what was a relatively empty building, his methods seemed to be even more unnecessary, something that Zeisha complained about numerous times.

"Did you really need to to check that room twice?" Zeisha moaned over the coms.

"You hired me to protect you, don't complain," David said in a terse tone.

"Might as well have hired one of the Imesi with how slow you're going."

"Wouldn't be as nearly as good looking."

"Unless you start sprouting feathers, I doubt it. And even if you did... meh"

"I dunno... what do you think Lilia, think I can rock some feathers?"

I smacked him on the back of the head with a psionic lash.

"Right."

"Looks like she's already got you on a leash."

David snorted, "Listen here-"

He was cut off as the lights of the room we were in cut on. We immediately moved back against the back wall, weapons scanning the room and eyes on the doors.

"Igel, warn us next time you do that," I hissed.

"Apologies, it appears that when the main system became operational it decided to perform a diagnostic."

"And that turned the lights on?" I asked

"Yes, from what I can see I can infer the system will activate all the machinery in the facility to determine functionality. For how long these machines will stay active, I cannot say."

As if to answer the Vatyl's guess, the lights turned off.

"Looks like not for long."

"Could depend on the machinery," Igel said, "Some of the larger constructs in the facility could require longer testing."

"Larger constructs, like what?"

In a trend that was becoming far too coincidental, a rumbling sound started to reverberate through the building to answer David's question. It wasn't enough to shake the floor beneath us, but enough so that there was a tangible vibration to the air.

"Uh, Igel?" David asked.

"Oh my... you two have got to see this.'

"See what Zeisha?"

"Make your way to the Colosseum, you'll see it when you get there."

We gave each other a confused glance, but there didn't seem to be any worry in Zeisha's voice. Getting to the Colosseum shouldn't have taken that long, considering that half the doors in the building led to the stands, but David insisted on moving slow and cautiously, which frustrated Zeisha. One could have said that he was moving even slower than usual, but that could have just have been due to the Fenician's constant complaints.

"Things tend to jump out at people when you're not paying attention, especially when there are all these distractions going on." he explained in a matter-of-fact tone, though there was a certain edge to it that may have been taken as playful.

"What, did you learn that from your human movies?" Zeisha said in a near groan.

"...maybe."

"Those are movies David, now hurry up or I'm docking your pay."

"Complain anymore and I'm going to have to charge extra for damages."

"Damages to what?"

"My ears."

A long, frustrated sigh cut through the coms, "Just hurry up smart ass."

As much as David had stressed on remaining alert. The sight of the Colosseum had pulled him from that mindset almost immediately. The floor of the arena had split a the middle, slowly opening up and revealing a network of walls that had formed a rather impressive maze. The walls themselves were to Ungelly scale, towering to such a height that it would be improbable at best to climb them. The smooth, dark gray, metallic finish to the walls didn't help in that regard either. After the original floor of the Colosseum had opened up entirely, the maze started to rise to the ground level at a steady, slow rate. As it did, a small open space in the middle of the max began to become more noticeable. It was far smaller than the original arena space, but it was easy to tell what the purpose of that space was, given David's original explanation of the building.

There was still more to the maze than first impressions would imply, for as soon as it had become level with the ground floor the walls began to move. Each movement was accompanied by the screech of metal against metal, and ended with a clang loud enough that it sounded like it had occurred right next to us. There seemed to be no pattern to the shifts, but from what little I could tell, there was always a path to the center open space available.

A stranger wouldn't be able to tell because of his helmet, but I could see from his body language that David was beaming at that moment. It was his stillness, his silence that gave him away, and while I could have poked some fun at him for losing his caution for that moment, I let him enjoy the moment

"Told you," Zeisha said triumphantly, "We've struck gold here guys. And it's only the first building."

David could only respond with a small laugh.

"Alright guys, time to get to work." Zeisha said.

David managed to shake himself out of his stupor, "Hold on, let me and Lilia finish our sweep of the building."

"Why?" Ziesha whined.

"Because whatever set off the sensors could still be here,"

"Oh that's not important, the sensors probably malfunctioned or something."

"That is highly unlikely," Igel said, "I am in agreement with David, it is better to be cautious, especially since we are the only ones from the Inner Ring here, and the nearest Poros space port is two weeks away."

Another sigh broke through the coms, "Fine, you have a point, but please, for the love of Keliko herself, pick up the pace will you?"

He chuckled, "Yeah yeah, we'll..."

I didn't catch the rest of his sentence, because in the midst of their conversation A number of my Feelers detected the presence of another lifeform near us. The problem was that the Feelers that had been set off were ones that I had positioned at the door we came in from. Somehow, whatever was in the building had eluded the others I had set up at a further distance, which up until that point was just not possible. It was very hard to avoid things you couldn't see, especially things that you weren't aware of, but somehow whatever it was I was detecting had done so.

"David, wait," I said.

He heard the urgency in my voice and quieted down, "What is it?"

"I think whatever we're looking for is right outside."

He paused, then nodded and readied his rifle, pointing it towards the door we had come from in the upper part of the stands. He motioned for me to stay behind him, and he slowly made his way to the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. However, by the time we reached the door, the signal was gone

"It's... gone?" I said, more than a little confusion evident in my voice.

David looked back at me for an explanation, but I couldn't give him one.

"Its presence just disappeared, I have no id-"

Again my Feelers were tripped, this time further away from the door with enough a distance to tell it had managed to avoid some of my Feelers again.

"Again, there," I said, pointing in the direction I had sensed it at.

David nodded again and peered out of the door, aiming down the hallway, though I was unsure what he was seeing."

"There's nothing there," He said.

"What? That doesn't make any sense, my Feelers don't get set off by random stimuli, something should be there," As I said that the presence disappeared again, "And now its gone again, by the Depths, what is going on?"

Zeisha and Igel had no explanation, which was expected. The one who knew most about my abilities was me, and if I had no idea what was happening, then no one was going to know. My mind wasn't clouded by any emotional stress that could have interfered with my psionics. In fact, my mind had never felt as clear as it did that day. The only plausible explanation was that somehow whatever was the source of the presence was resistant to psionics. Ever since the incident with Rau, I was aware there were methods to resisting my abilities, but unless the being I was sensing was part of some group that had access to the same technology that Rau had, and had somehow followed us this far without being detected, then the only explanation I had was that at least one of the wildlife on Ba'run was resistant to psionics. Not in the Jorakin way where their sheer momentum and mass made it difficulty to manipulate, but in a way that had negated my abilities entirely, at least momentarily.

David was still looking a the hallway, but stepped back from the door.

"What's going on? Aren't you going after it?" Zeisha asked.

"If I had any idea where it was going, maybe, but even then I don't know if that's a good idea."

"For what reason?" Igel asked.

He motioned me to follow him back down to the bottom of the stands, "Well two guesses, really. One is that whatever set off Lilia's Feelers was aware of them, and was trying to bait us out to catch us unaware."

"Unlikely," Igel said, "Beyond a few unsubstantiated rumors, the first I ever saw of Nereid psionics was from Lilia herself. The odds of anything on Ba'run to be privy to that information are virtually impossible."

"Yeah I was thinking that as well," David conceded, "The second, more likely option is that it's something from the local wildlife that sensed us approaching and ran away."

"That still doesn't explain why it was throwing Lilia off."

"Yeah I'm drawing a blank on it as well, but I don't feel like chasing after something I haven't even seen yet. Not immediately."

"So you wait?"

"Yeah. I'm trying to figure something out."

"And that is?"

"If what we're looking for is a predator or a prey."

I wasn't quite sure what to think of David's question, and judging from the silence over the coms neither were Zeisha or Igel.

"And how is waiting going to determine that?" Zeisha finally asked.

"Simple, if it comes back, it's a predator, if it doesn't it's a prey."

"What if it's just curious wildlife?" Zeisha asked.

"Were this a more domesticated environment, your assumption could be correct, but given the overgrown nature of the buildings it is probably fair to assume that any domestication that occured is most likely nonexistent now," Igel explained, "Which would mean that the local fauna should behave more according to simple nature dynamics."

"Yeah but we're on an entirely different planet," Zeisha interjected, "Animal behavior could be different here."

"Possibly, but given the fact that most of the sentient species in the Inner Ring are familiar with the Prey/Predator dynamic, I would be inclined to think that it is just a part of galaxy wide rather than a planetary phenomenon."

"Still, why do you need to know that David?"

"Well if its a prey, then we let it go. If its a predator, then odd are we're going to have to chase it off or hunt it down. All depends on what kind of predator it is. You picking anything up Lilia?"